THE MAN IS KEEPING US DOWN

Here come the diaper price hikes, as warned:

Last week we started seeing higher shelf prices on both Huggies and Pampers, and today we're seeing a "sale"price of $9.99 per jumbo that used to be $8.99. For size 3, that dollar increase amounts to an increase of just less than three cents per diaper--about 13%! Most families will need to add between $5 and $10 per month to their diaper budgets, or $60 to $100 for the year.

Click the link to find out ways to get around this fiendish diaper-industrial complex plot. The comments are particularly interesting, with several commenters claiming that Wal-Mart is refusing to honor manufacturers' coupons from customers who stock up on diapers and use multiple coupons. I vaguely recall a Target clerk mentioning this policy to me while stocking up for Beast a few weeks ago, but I will have to test the claims for myself when I head out to buy another couple packages of GoodNites and Pull-ups later today. I'll report back...but if you know anything in the meantime, feel free to drop a comment!

UPDATE: No coupon hassles at Target. Wal-Mart to follow after the snow/ice/rain/muckstorm moves through.

YOUR WEEKEND ERRANDS ARE ABOUT TO TAKE A LOT LONGER

How does New York plan to fill in a $4.5 billion dollar budget gap and pay for all the goodies Governor Spitzer's been promising hither and yon? Simple. Lotteries. Buttloads of new lotteries.

Wall Street analysts advising the Spitzer administration say any investor who pays $4 billion to operate the lottery will likely have to look beyond the bodegas and convenience stores to higher market venues and a bigger share of middle class players. That could mean lottery games in suburban chain stores like Target...

Doesn't it just figure? Our stops at Target, the one retailer whose checkout lines aren't a tedious death march past ill-trained clerks and malfunctioning scanners, are now going to be gummed up with the same kind of hairy-backed troglodytes who currently jam up your morning coffee stop pondering their scratch-off ticket portfolios.